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Good IT recruiters want to put their IT contractors in IT jobs where they fit both in terms of the skills on their resumes and the workplace culture.  While IT headhunters can do their best to try to make good matches for workplace culture, IT consultants can do the most to make sure they wind up in a job with a great boss and good coworkers.  There are two kinds of red flags to watch out for in interviews: Red flags that indicate your boss will be difficult to work for and red flags that indicate the company culture is too toxic for you.

Though a single red flag isn’t really enough to avoid a job on its own, a few or more of these signs will show you that you may not be compatible with this boss.  If your interviewer comes in very late, hasn’t read your resume at all previous to the interviewer, or checks email and/or takes calls during the interview, it’s worth considering how much guidance you need from a boss.  If you rely heavily on a boss who is organized and provides pretty frequent direction, this isn’t the boss for you.  Their inability to be prepared and focus on the interview at hand shows quite a bit about how they’ll act during the regular work day.  On the other hand, if you prefer to work as autonomously as possible, these signs aren’t necessarily a problem.

Another major red flag to notice is how your interviewer/potential boss  speaks of the person who holds or previously held the position.  If he or she is warm and commends the person, this is a great sign.  However, if your potential boss skirts the issue of the previous person who held the role, or trashes them outright, take time to consider how you deal with difficult personalities.  If they don’t bother you, it’s not an issue.  If you need to have a positive, friendly relationship with your boss to be productive, however, this may not the job for you.

The last red flag that IT staffing agencies would want their IT professionals to watch out for is how the workplace culture looks.  If you find reviews of the workplace culture on glassdoor or other similar websites that terrify you, try to confirm or disprove these for yourself when you go on the interview.  You might also consider checking around with professional contacts in your field.  Word can travel fast, particularly when a work environment is toxic.  Better to know before you take a job if you’d like the workplace culture there or not.